Dr. John Watson Quotes

Illustration by Paget

Dr. John Watson was Sherlock Holmes’ biographer and as such had much control in forming the readers’ opinion of Holmes and for that matter the reader’s opinion of Watson himself. Sherlock Holmes is introduced to the reader by Dr. Watson in the novel A Study in Scarlet. The first line of this first of the Sherlock Holmes stories reads:

Being a reprint from the reminiscences of

JOHN H. WATSON MD

late of the Army Medical Department

Dr. John Watson Quotes

Under such circumstances I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.

Dr. Watson

-A Study in Scarlet

Chapter 1: “Mr. Sherlock Holmes”

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‘This fellow may be very clever.’ I said to myself, ‘but he is certainly very conceited.’

Dr. Watson Quote Concerning Holmes

-A Study in Scarlet

Chapter 2: “The Science of Deduction”

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‘I keep a bull pup,’ I said, ‘and I object to row, because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I’m well, but those are the pricipal ones at present.’

Dr. John Watson Quote

-A Study in Scarlet

Chapter 1: “Mr. Sherlock Holmes”

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‘You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist out of stories.’

Dr. John Watson Quote

-A Study in Scarlet

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Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque.

Dr. John Watson

-The Red-Headed League

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So silent and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence.

Dr. Watson’s Observation of Sherlock Holmes

-The Sign of Four

Chapter 6: “Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration”

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I have not lived for years with Sherlock Holmes for nothing.

Dr. John Watson Quote

-The Hounds of the Baskervilles

Chapter 10: “Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson”

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‘Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age.’

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Last Bow

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‘It has always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my friend Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent interest in them.’

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Reigate Puzzle

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‘I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.’

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Reigate Puzzle

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‘The ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceedingly pertinacious. For a long time he has worried me to write an experience of my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this persecution, since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are his own accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures. “Try it yourself, Holmes!” he has retorted, and I am compelled to admit that, having taken my pen in my hand, I do begin to realize that the matter must be presented in such a way as may interest the reader…Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden myself with a companion in my various little inquiries it is not done out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances. A confederate who foresees your conclusions and course of action is always dangerous, but one to whom each development comes as a perpetual surprise, and to whom the future is always a closed book, is indeed an ideal helpmate.’

Sherlock Holmes Writing

-The Blanched Soldier

[Note: The word pertinacious means: adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design; also perversely persistent]

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‘You know my methods, Watson.’

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Crooked Man

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‘I know my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.’

Sherlock Holmes Quote

-The Red-Headed League

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Unusual Dr. Watson Trivia

In the short story, The Man with the Twisted Lip, Mrs. Watson, addresses her husband, Dr. John H. Watson, by the given name “James.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never explains this error on the part of Watson’s wife.

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All quotes on this web site were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.